The port of Livorno, located according to some conventions on the Ligurian Sea or, according to others, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is the main port of Tuscany and one of the most important Italian ports and the entire Mediterranean Sea, both for passenger traffic and, above all, for that goods.
The sea mirror of the port of Livorno has a size of about 1,600,000 square meters and the large architectural works that mark the perimeter are constituted, besides the Tuscany Darsena to the north, by three breakwaters: the Dike of the Vegliaia, the Dam curvilinea that continues with the straight Dam (or of the Meloria) to the west and the Diga del Marzocco to the northwest.
The Old Darsena, the oldest part of the port wanted by the Medici, was reserved for the fishermen; an area adjacent to the majestic Medici fortress that first witnessed the birth and expansion of the port of Livorno.
The fishing boats or, as the seafarers call them, the fishing boats, are colorful and festive and when they return from the fish, they always attract a crowd of onlookers who often help the sailors in their mooring operations.
The food market, also called the Central Market or covered, rises on the Aurelio Saffi, along the Fosso Reale of Livorno.
It is one of the most interesting buildings of Livorno in the second half of the nineteenth century, where there is also the influence of the great architecture of iron and nineteenth-century glass.
The interior consists mainly of a large hall and some smaller pavilions at the back.
The main hall, embellished by some caryatids created by Lorenzo Gori, is covered by a light skylight.
The two large adjoining rooms were used for fish, 45 meters long and 11.50 wide where there were 22 marble counters and 10 shops, and the other for the sale of vegetables, eggs and poultry with 12 shops.
The whole building is surrounded above the 6 meter high local shops and is ventilated by large windows with shutters.
Today the structure has 200 counters and large underground warehouses, with 92 cellars communicating directly with the front of Fosso Reale and connected to the street level by means of comfortable ramps.
The Old Fortress is a fortification that stands at the edge of the Medici port of Livorno.
The result of renovations and reconstructions over the centuries, it contains the entire history of the city, from its origins to the present day. In the Middle Ages, the original nucleus of the fortress consisted of a square tower on the edge of Porto Pisano, the large port that extended between Pisa and the then Labronico village. The damages reported in the last war conflict have canceled most of the buildings inside, but have left the sixteenth-century curtain wall substantially intact.
To improve the accessibility of the interior, the restorers have installed a characteristic metal walkway, which covers the entire perimeter of the fortress, allowing a suggestive view from above also of the “Quadratura dei Pisani” and the adjoining square tower.
